First of all, this guide applies to the Daydream controller SC07B by Ad Cardboard only, it shall not work for original Google Daydream View controller.

Recently some report with issue that the cursor drifts on its own sometimes, especially after you twist or wave the controller in violent movement, and the cursor beam deviates from the direction your controller points at.

Though you can fix it temporarily by pressing Home button to recenter it, we know it is frustrating, or even drive you crazy while you are in a game.

We find this issue occurs in a certain percentage of the early lots, the reason is calibration work had not been done properly before delivery. If your controller has this issue, you have to re-calibrate it manually. Don’t worry, it’s only several easy steps:

The step 2 may be confusing to you. I believe, so smart as you, you must have lots of good idea. For example, find a square box, fix the controller on or inside the box, then place the box on a level table, twist its long side in 360 degree, then wide side, then height side. You can try many times till the light turns from red to white. Now try with your VR headset. If the issue still exists, try again.

I come across a very good article today on Sensics blog, which explains clearly and intuitively on some important terms about optical parameters of VR goggles. It’s so helpful that I decide to save a copy here, adding some words and high definition graphs (most copied from vr-lens-lab.com), in case someone who need it same as me can find it easier.

Field of View: typically measured in degrees, the field of view defines what is the horizontal, vertical and diagonal extent that can be viewed at any given point. This is often specified as a monocular (single eye) field of view, but it is also customary to specify the binocular field of view and thus the binocular overlap.

Monocular FOV describes the field of view for one of our eyes. For a healthy eye, the horizontal monocular FOV is between 170°-175° and consists of the angle from the pupil towards the nose, the nasal FOV which is usually 60°-65° and is smaller for people with bigger noses, and the view from our pupil toward the side of our head, the temporal FOV, which is wider, usually 100°-110°.

Binocular FOV is the combination of the two monocular fields of view in most humans. When combined they provide humans with a viewable area of 200°-220°. Where the two monocular fields of view overlap there is the stereoscopic binocular field of view, about 114°, where we are able to perceive things in 3D.

I don’t quite understand the formula, math is always my nightmare. However, I figure out a simple rule is the longer focal length, the smaller FOV. Most Chinese VR headsets use 42mm lens, the focal length is 68mm, so we can get the FOV is 34.4° only! That why the field of view is very narrow, and we can see obvious black curtain around view. Google Cardboard 2015 and Daydream View offer FOV of 80°, Oculus and HTC 110°, Samsung Gear VR II 101°.

Eye relief: typically measured in millimeters, the eye relief indicates the distance between the eye and the closest optical element as seen in the illustration below.

Regular eyeglasses have an eye relief of about 12mm.

Advantages of larger eye relief:

If the optics are too close to the eye, they generate discomfort such as when the eyelashes touch the optics.

If the eye relief is large enough, the system might be able to accommodate people wearing glasses without the need to provide a focusing mechanism to compensate for not having glasses

Disadvantages of larger eye relief:

The total depth of the optical system (distance from eye to screen) becomes larger and the overall system potentially more cumbersome.

The minimal diameter first optical element is dictated by a combination of the desired field of view and eye relief. Keeping same FOB, larger eye relief requires the lens with a larger diameter, but this comes with its own set of challenges. Larger lenses need to be thicker in the middle which makes them heavier. This problem can be overcome by using Fresnel lenses but the second problem that remains regardless what kind of lens is used is that larger lenses introduce more optical aberrations.

Eye box (Pupil diameter): often specified in millimeters, the eye box determines how much the eye can move up/down/left/right from the optimal position without significant degradation in the image quality. Some optical systems such as rifle scopes have very narrow eye box because they want to ‘force’ the eye to be in the optimal position. Other optical systems, such as HMDs used in soldier training, might desire larger eye boxes to allow the trainee to see a good image even as the HMD moves on the head while the trainee is running. The image quality at the optimal position is most always best, but if the eye box is too narrow, the user will not obtain a good image without tedious adjustments.

For instance, the diagram below shows the simulation results of an optical design at the nominal eye position (left) and at 4 mm away from the optimal position:

Distortion: optical distortion is one type of imperfection in an optical design. Distortion causes straight lines not being seen as straight lines when viewed through the optics. These distortions can usually be classified as either barrel distortions or pincushion distortions:

Barrel distortion
In barrel distortion, image magnification decreases with distance from the optical axis. The apparent effect is that of an image which has been mapped around a sphere (or barrel). Fisheye lenses, which take hemispherical views, utilize this type of distortion as a way to map an infinitely wide object plane into a finite image area. In a zoom lens barrel distortion appears in the middle of the lens’s focal length range and is worst at the wide-angle end of the range.[2]

Pincushion distortion
In pincushion distortion, image magnification increases with the distance from the optical axis. The visible effect is that lines that do not go through the centre of the image are bowed inwards, towards the centre of the image, like a pincushion.

Mustache distortion
A mixture of both types, sometimes referred to as mustache distortion (moustache distortion) or complex distortion, is less common but not rare. It starts out as barrel distortion close to the image center and gradually turns into pincushion distortion towards the image periphery, making horizontal lines in the top half of the frame look like a handlebar mustache.

Source: Wikipidia

Distortion is reported in percentage units. If a pixel is placed at a distance of 100 pixels (or mm or degrees or inches or whichever unit you prefer) and appears as if it at a distance of 110, the distortion at that particular point is (110-100)/100 = 10%.

During the process of optical design, distortion graphs are commonly viewed during the iterations of the design. For instance, consider the distortion graph below:

Distortion graph. Source: SPIE

In a perfect lens, the “x” marks should reside right on the intersection of the grid lines. In this particular lens, that is quite far from being the case.

Chromatic aberration: Just like white light breaks into various colors when passing through a prism, an optical system might behave differently for different wavelengths/colors. This could cause color breakup. It is useful to explore how much the system is ‘color corrected’ so as to minimize this color breakup. The image below shows a nice picture at the center of the optical system but fairly significant color breakup at the edges.

Ok, it comes to an end. I may supplement more later, if I find it necessary. Contact me at gary@adcardboard.com.

No doubt Google cardboard is a magic, simply several pieces of cardboard, plus 2 lenses, boom~ open the gate to virtual reality. Now it’s already mass produced and widely used, no more just a DIY gadget it born to be. Like most of us in this group, more and more people use it for work, sell it to customers, then of course, we concern what’s bad and good.

The main parts of a cardboard viewer include cardboard paper and lens. What impresses us first when getting a cardboard is the paper, the making, the printing, while to some of people, I believe quite many, these are their only concerns, and basis to judge if it’s good or bad. They complain the paper is too weak, layers of cardboard not aligned, unglued or glue runs everywhere, button not work functionally, bad printing … yes, these are all problems, but not real problems, if the manufacturer put his heart into the work and has quality criteria in mind, or just be more careful. Some manufacturers, especially some Chinese, they like to make stupid mistakes, and have no intention at all to make it good, but that’s not the point.

In this post I mainly discuss about the lens. It’s not a job you can do well just be enough careful. Lens is the most “technical” parts of Google cardboard. Though Google provides detailed specifications and drawing, because of its optical characteristics, there’s very strict requirements on molding and injection. Every single deviation during manufacturing process like incorrect temperature, time, will cause a disaster. That’s why you can easily find dozens of manufacturers of cardboard or lens in China, but need good luck to find a good quality one.

I collected 2 pieces of samples from 2 main lens suppliers in China (marked C & D), and do some comparison with 2 of ours (A &B), so total 4 different pieces of lens, all 34mm. First, I checked by the method given by Google in WWGC guidelines: put them before a straight light. Here I got:

I mentioned it ever in my earlier post. To do this test, you just put your phone (shut off the screen) or other similar board into the cardboard viewer, as you use it normally. Then put it under a liner or circular light (avoid too much other light sources, a dark room is best, else you cannot get a clear image). Obviously, the right (black) ones defocused. According to Google’s specifications, the lens focal length is 40mm, object distance is 36mm, so there’re 3 possible reasons: one is the incorrect focal length; another is incorrect object distance; or if your viewer uses custom lenses, it didn’t coordinate the 2 parameters properly.

Whew~ finally come to the finish. Thank you for bearing my long and poor text! This is only my personal knowledge. Welcome to discuss with me: gary@adcardboard.com.